Do You Know How You Lead Your Team?

If you have recently been promoted to a management position, or simply want to reflect on your managerial methods, you should figure out what leadership style you possess.

The Sourcing Institute provides three different leadership approaches, which are participative, delegative or authoritarian.

Read this article to figure out what type of leader you are.

Participative Leader – These sort of managers are best described as being democratic. They give everyone a chance to express their voices, and value the opinions of the entire staff, whether they be higher or lower on the corporate ladder.

Studies of leadership styles by psychologist Kurt Lewin in 1939 revealed this sort of manager to be the most effective one. This supervisor promotes teamwork, cooperation and original thinking.

He or she takes the time to foster relationships with employees, making them feel empowered to participate in the work culture and contribute their ideas for better workflow and efficiency.

However, the participative leader still reserves the final decision-making power for him or herself.

Delegative Leader – Also known as a laissez-faire leader, this type of leadership style is most useful in departments with a large number of employees.

These managers create groups within the employees, nominating one member of each group as the delegate. This individual is then held responsible for overseeing the group to make sure the work gets completed accurately and timely.

Depending on the size of the group, a chain of command of delegates may be established, with certain employees overseeing other delegates.

This type of leadership style recognizes the efforts and qualifications of certain team members, and rewards them with promotions.

This motivates employees to work hard to become a delegate so they can take on more responsibility and decision-making power.

Authoritarian Leader – This autocratic manager acts like a dictator, making and enforcing all the rules. These individuals will not trust anyone to delegate their staff, and take on all the responsibility on themselves.

These managers do not ask the opinion of their subordinates about how things should be done, but choose the agenda all by themselves.

Their employees know that they have to follow all the rules to the tee, or be reprimanded for straying off course.

This type of leader has a hard time managing a large team, as it becomes harder and harder to keep track of everyone without any help.

Depending on the type of company you are managing, and the employees you have, you may choose one leadership style over another.

However, you may decide at some point in time that the way you are managing your team is not working, which will lead you to make some changes.

There is no clear cut line between the leader you have to be; you can choose different styles for different situations.